Ties Unbreakable
by Glass Wings
Summary: What If Ponyboy had a twin brother which had the mind of a seven year old?


_A/n:_Okay this is another brother fic, but it's nothing like the others I assure you! Tom, Ponyboy's twin has a mental disability. Tom has the mind of a seven year old. (From Cat) Also, we'll meet a friend of the family completely dedicated to looking after the boys. A girl, yes, but not like you'd think.

_Dedication: _This is too my little sister! I love her and she's my inspiration! Goddess.

_Disclaimer:_We do not own the outsiders, SE Hinton does. But we do own anyone you don't recognize from the book. So far that's Tom Curtis and Loretta. Hope you enjoy!

Catherine Ace: Yup. We'd love feedback. You know what that means. . Let's hear it folks, good or what?

**Prologue**

I kicked the dirt nervously as we walked back home from school; Tom walked with mum in front of us holding her hand as me, Soda and Steve lagged on behind. She was mad at me and this time I didn't even know why. Steve poked me in the arm and chanted,

"You're in trouble, you're in trouble..." I could feel my ears burn and tears prickle in my eyes. I held them back, I can't cry in front of Steve. He would never let me live it down. When we got home Soda and Steve ran upstairs to go and play, I wish they would come back down. I didn't want to be left alone when I got told off.

"Tom honey, go to the kitchen and have some cake," she said to Tom. Tom disappeared into kitchen and I sank down onto the couch, listening to the brief squeak of the springs. All was quiet in the house save the faint noises of Steve and Soda playing cowboys and Indians. Then the quiet tip-tap of Mom's shoes coming from the kitchen sent tiny knots whirling in my stomach.

"Ponyboy," she began, and inwardly I cringed.

"Pony, we've had this talk so many times now. You know you shouldn't yell at Tom. He can't help it-"

"Mom, I know. I'm sorry! It's just that... That..." I faltered for words to convey the feelings welling up inside.

"Pony, I know Tom is sometimes... different from the others, but he's still your brother. You have to be patient with him. I expect better of you Pony." She stopped suddenly, listening to the sound of dogs barking. Snarling more like it, and I could hear a person... A girl! It sounded like they were attacking her! Mom stood up suddenly and called for my Dad. He came running into the room.

"Honey, what is it?" he asked.

"There're some dogs in the yard." A girl's scream pierced the air and my father and mother went running outside. Out in our front yard there were three rather large black dogs, wild ones that hung around in the woods near our house. They were attacking a young girl, probably about my age. My father took his shotgun and aimed it at one of the dogs. Normally he'd never hurt an animal, but they would kill her if he didn't. She was already bleeding pretty badly. A crack of the gun and a dog fell. Another one came charging at them and Dad loaded the gun, but it jumped and dodged. Right for Tom, who had come up with us and we hadn't seen him. The girl made a dashing grab for the dog and caught it by the scruff of the neck. She caught it and the dog whirled around, sinking its fangs into her arm. She screamed, but her scream was briefly drowned out by the crack of Dad's gun. The dog fell and the others began backing off, slowly disappearing into the woods. The girl was left sitting in the yard, blood dying the grass like rubies. I turned to Dad.

"Dad? What're we going to do?" I asked feeling nausea kick in but instead Tom broke in. he was crying,

"The girl," he whimpered. Mom and dad exchanged worried glances, wrapping an arm around Tom, mom lead him back inside.

"I'll call the ambulance," she whispered. By then Steve and Soda had come down stairs and were standing on the porch staring at the dead dogs and the girl wide-eyed. Dad sighed worriedly then walked over to the girl's body. I couldn't see much from the distance and I was glad. Taking off his jacket he put around the girl, he began talking. That had to be a good sign, I thought, he wouldn't talk to a dead person. She had to be alive. We heard a faint moan; and it was confirmed. She was alive.

"Pony, what happened?" Soda finally asked.

"The wild dogs attacked her," I said, "They tried to jump Tom but she stopped them and they bit her...." I said trailing off. A truck pulled up on the drive way. At first I thought it was the ambulance but it was Darry in the truck. He was coming home late from football practice. He immediately jumped out of the truck and ran over to dad.

"What happened!" I heard him yell. Dad answered him and then they carried her into the house. As she went past in dads arms I closed my eyes, I didn't want to see how bad she looked I knew I would cry.

Tom had stopped crying and sat by her on the couch till the ambulance got here. He even wanted to go into the ambulance with her but Mom and Dad wouldn't let him. Instead dad went with the girl and Darry drove us too the hospital. We waited for hours in the waiting room to see how she was doing. Mom insisted me; Tom and Soda should go home. But Tom wouldn't take any of it, he wanted to stay.

Oh yeah, the girls name was Loretta. She lived in our neighbourhood and I'm surprised I hadn't seen her before. I guess you don't really notice people until something happens. However her outlook wasn't too good. The dogs had badly injured her legs; the doctors said she'd have to walk on crutches _if_ she survived....

- - -

Anyways that's it for now, tell us what you think! Goddess.


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